Early in 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic was largely responsible for halting the Missourians for a New Approach (MNA) initiative campaign to place an adult-use marijuana bill on the fall 2022 Missouri ballot. The group’s goal was to update Missouri’s Constitutional Article XIV with a new Section 2 allowing adult use of cannabis.
It is all but certain that this campaign will launch again in 2021. Dan Viets, chairman of the MNA advisory board indicated in an interview with Cannabis Dispensary Magazine that the new campaign will be “a similar measure, not exactly the same, but [a] very similar measure.”
Missouri NORML chapter leaders across the state have participated as cannabis consumer advocates in the drafting of this revised initiative petition. NORML’s priorities are to ensure consumer use is legally protected, personal cultivation is allowed, and expungement of past nonviolent cannabis criminal records is obtainable for affected Missourians.
The social equity component of this IP is vital to help reverse the long standing effects of Missouri’s “War on Drugs” policy which leads to thousands of arrests for non-violent cannabis consumers.
MNA is closing in on the the final language as the new year begins. Once complete, the new measure is filed with the Missouri Secretary of State (SOS) and will take several weeks to gain approval. The process of gathering signatures from 8% of the voters in six out of Missouri’s eight congressional districts will begin after SOS approval. Approximately 169,000 valid signatures are required to put the IP on the November 2022 ballot.
The Amendment 2 campaign which successfully passed medical marijuana in 2018 submitted 372,483 signatures to the Missouri Secretary of State, far more than required. The new adult use IP will strive to achieve the same results to ensure certification and inclusion on the 2022 ballot.
Most of the funding for the 2022 campaign will come from industry groups, individuals, and medical cannabis business stakeholders who have provided input into the drafting process.
In a recent online chapter meeting with Greater St. Louis NORML members, NMA Campaign Manager, John Payne, offered interesting insights into the costs to run a successful IP campaign.
Printing a multi-page petition can cost tens of thousands of dollars in the quantities needed to make the ballot. But the cost of signature gatherers and validating those collected voter signatures will be exponentially more expensive.
Raising adequate marketing funds to educate voters will be another significant financial factor for success. An informational marketing campaign would be an essential component in convincing Missouri voters to approve cannabis legalization in Missouri for 2022.
Lawmakers’ Initiatives
Another path to marijuana legalization in Missouri could be in the “Smarter and Safer Missouri Act,” HJR 30 Bill filed by Rep. Shamed Dogan (R Ballwin, MO). View the HJR 30 Bill here as a PDF.
Dogan’s proposed legislation repeals Section 1 of Amendment XIV in its entirety, completely gutting Missouri’s medical marijuana program. A Section 2 is proposed which adds language that regulates cannabis use like alcohol for Missourians 21 years of age and over. Medical cannabis use is also assured too.
The HJR 30 Bill specifies a 12 percent adult-use tax and directs funds toward infrastructure, veterans, and drug treatment programs. Medical marijuana is taxed at 4 percent, the same tax rate medical patients now enjoy.
The legislature will have the task of adding and rewriting the rules for Missouri’s medical and adult-use cannabis constitutional Amendment XIV. Dogan has specified only a few key provisions in HJR 30.
Dogan is one of a few Missouri Republicans whose views about legalizing cannabis align with the majority of Missouri voters. In the past, Dogan introduced a bill to free Jeff Mizanskey, who has since been released from his sentence of life without parole for nonviolent marijuana offenses.
Dogan’s legislative goals are to “save Missouri taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars.” Legalizing cannabis in Missouri would accomplish that and more.
It’s up to the legislators to make it happen or citizen advocates will seize the opportunity to secure another cannabis legalization victory at the ballot box in 2022.